While the past week has been grim enough in all conscience there is still nothing in the situation in France to justify anything approaching despair. That view is supported by the undeniable calm to be noticed in the French communiques. The fact is that under the terrific pressure of the German on-slaugh, in which the enemy is sacrificing men and material in completely unparalleled prodigality, the French and British troops in their various sectors have been obliged to fall back, not in disorder, as the German communiques would have it, but with a line unbroken, and completely according to structions of the Allied high command. Paris has gone. When it became inevitable, General Weygand, with complete realism, decided not to fight in the capital, and removing all defences enabled the French Government to declare it an open city, which at any rate for the time being has saved it from the destruction which was threatened. Allied forces fell back on both sides of Paris, restored their line and continued to offer the stoutest resistance to the enemy. It is more than a little difficult to reconcile all the various reports, but if the alleged 2,000,000 Germans which are reported to have been thrown into this battle are indeed the overwhelmingly numerical superior force they are claimed to be, then it is obvious that even while manning the frontiers against Italy, the French must have reserves which it has been believed all along General Weygand has been holding for a counter-offensive when the moment is ripe. On the other hand it is claimed that the largest army Britain has ever sent over the Channel i rapidly being rushed to the assistance of the French, and it is to be hoped that in the not too distant future the Allies will be in a position to turn upon the enemy and wrest from them some of the gains they have made. Thus the military situation in France, grave though it undoubtedly is, is not by any means hopeless. The Allies realize that even now the last word has not been spoken, and that when the time comes they will strike back with all the means, which are quickly growing, at their disposal.
The most heartening occurrence of the last week was the splendid response of President Roosevelt to M. Reynaud's appeal. Short of war the United States are doing their utmost to supply the Allies with war material, and all reports are to the effect that it is forthcoming in huge quantities. There can be no doubt where the sympathies of the people of the United States lie. They have been brought to a realization that an Allied defeat in Europe would not only mean the disappearance of all those ideals which the Americans revere from that continent, but would sooner or later lead to an onslaught upon the western hemisphere. That is the one great fact of which none of the democracies can for one moment afford to lose sight. The gentle cooings of Herr Hitler to an American correspondent, declaring that he had no intentions against the. Americas are just much to be depended upon as the assurance: which were given Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, and Belgium, a formidable enough list of betrayals to make even the most credulous of people hesitate to accept his latest averments. It may very well be that soon Herr Hitler will send out peace feelers, indicating the moderate terms he would be prepared to offer the Allies, or, perhaps, France alone in a hope of bringing this very expensive war to an early conclusion. It is not believed that either Great Britain or France would be deceived by any such manceuvre. At the very best it would be only an attempt to secure a breathing space in which to complete further plans for the final subjugation of the Allies, the destruction of their empires, and the reduction of their peoples to the helotry to which so many small nations have already been reduced. That is what peace at this juncture would mean for them, what it would mean for them if some time in the future complete defeat become their lot. It is because of this that there can be no attention paid to peace rumours emanating from either Berlin or Rome, until the tide of victory has been turned in favour of the Allies, and that victory obtained of which even now there is not much reason to despair.
For the second time during the week a report came to hand yesterday to the effec that the Italians were advancing towards Nice. That up to the time of writing had not been confirmed. For the rest, the week since the Italian declaration of war has so far as she is concerned been featureless. The British and French navies have searched the Mediterranean for the Italian fleet without result, and at any rate for the moment the Italian navy appears to prefer remaining in the comparative safety of its harbour rather than engaged in any encounter which the Allies are eager to have with it. In northern Africa the initiative has been with the Allied air forces, British machines successfully raiding Italian air bases and wreaking destruction upon them. Along the Kenya-Ethiopian borders a certain amount of activity is reported, and even some news of the Italians attempting to advance on Djibouti. But nothing in the nature of a big action appears to have taken place and may not for some time to come. What British forces there are in Kenya have not been disclosed but the Government of South Africa is prepared to send troops that far north should circumstances render it desirable. On the face of it the Italian troops in Ethiopia have been left very much to their own devices. They cannot expect to receive any assistance from Italy, and for that reason it is believed that their forces there will have little more than an annoyance value, being completely unable to play any important part in deciding the issue of the war. Both the Italian and German broadcast stations have been busily emitting stories of Allied disagreement. These reports have been emphatically denied. They are completely without foundation as so many of the stories broadcast by the enemy have been. These in particular arise from wishful thinking. The enemy would greatly like to see signs of disunity between the Allies. They would presage the early victory which alone can save the enemy from the fate which awaits them, for they realize that with all the territorial gain they have secured each day makes further inroads into their resources, which however substantial they might have been at the commencement of ihe war ten months ago, are drained at an enormous rate, thereby enhancing the effects of the naval blockade which will still prove an important factor in the ultimate outcome of this struggle, Democracies' Great Anniversary Saturday was the 725th anniversary of the greatest day in the history of Anglo-Saxon civilization, for on June 1215, King John accepted the Articles of the Barons or more correctly "Capitula quae barones petent et dominus rex conceit," thereby opening the conference which lasted until June 23 to provide machinery for carrying out those reforms which the King had promised in Magna Carta. The story of the struggle which led to this most notable development is too well known. It was commenced long before John came to the throne, but his accession as an unpopular king to one who had been popular was an active spur to the rising discontent. The actual crisis may be said to have occurred when the struggle arose between King John and Pope Innocent III regarding the appointment of a new archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope won ihe day and nominated Stephen Langton. He was ultimately to lead the barons in their revolt after endeavouring to persuade the King to mend his ways, and it is one of those paradoxes y that, while the Roman Catholic archbishop led the movement to secure the Magna Carta, Pope Innocent III. on August 25 of the same year, published a Bull declaring Magna Carta null and void on the ground that it had been extorted from the King by force, and in the words of the Bull was composition em hujusmodi reprobamus penitus et dammamus, and followed it up by excommunicating the barons. In fact Magna Carta is an elaboration on the accession charter of Henry I and wa based on the Articles of the Barons, being very much longer than the former charter and somewhat lengthier than the Articles. Past historians have spoken of the Great Charter in rhetorica terms of praise and appear to have regarded it as conferring upon the nation nothing less than the English Constitution in its perfected and completed form. Sir Edward Coke, the eminent lawyer, found in it a full and proper legal answer to every exaction of the Stuart kings. and a remedy for every evil suffered at the time, while Lord Chatham declared that "Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights from that code which I call the Bible of the English Constitution." Modern historians take a somewhat different view, recognizing the paramount importance of the document but declaring that the constitutional history of England is a commentary in the charter. Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary ai State for India, made a good point when he said in his address on the subject on Saturday, that the need for con tinual adjustment which had taken place home had governed the development of British freedom overseas. It has led to the acceptance of the principle of responsible self-government in the case of the Dominions, giving them a fully grown national stature, and a complete equality of status with the Mother country Which is free and which has still ass partnership in which they can sus ta mutual welfare in peace and defence of their liberties in times of war. But Magna Carta did more than that It established the principles upon which the United States were to develope their constitution, proclaiming those ideals to which the Americans pay a great deal of reverence. In this connection it is interesting that for the duration of the war one of the sealed copies, of which there are reported to be four in existence, has been lodged in the library of the U.S. Congress, having been on exhibition last year during the New York World's Fair. There it bears testimony to all that for which the Allies are fighting, to the freedom which Britain has increasingly enjoyed for centuries, and the ideals for which France fought during the Revolution and is fighting now, Should they pass the world will experience a new concept of life, and a degrading one at that in which individual liberties will disappear, freedom of speech vanish and even mental processes be made subject to official regimentation. These things are not to be lightly given up and millions of men in France are doing their utmost to see that Magna Car shall still remain the spring from which freedom shall continue to emerge.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.